Refinance/Appraisal Question

[Bonita]

We decided to refinance, but I realized we still have one project that is unfinished at the moment - our upstairs bath. It's mostly done, but we haven't installed the tile in the shower.

Should we finish this before ordering the appraisal, or will this not affect our appraisal?

My apologies if this seems like a dumb question! ha ha

[littlemisssunshine]

That won't affect it at all. Or it shouldn't. For refi's usually the appraiser doesn't even come into the house, just does a drive by and pulls the comps. For our refi we didn't even know the appraisal had been done until the loan officer mentioned what it had come back at.

[Bonita]

Oooohhhhhh, that's even more fabulous than I thought! Woo Hoo ;D

Thanks for this info!

[julygal]

When we refinanced the appraiser not only came in but took a ton of pictures that showed up in the final appraisal report. I am not sure how an incomplete renovation would affect it but I would ask your lender before going forward and don't count on it just being a drive by.

[Bonita]

Nov 8, 2012 21:31:10 GMT -5 julygal said:

When we refinanced the appraiser not only came in but took a ton of pictures that showed up in the final appraisal report. I am not sure how an incomplete renovation would affect it but I would ask your lender before going forward and don't count on it just being a drive by.

Interesting! I'll have to ask and see what they say...they didn't mention having to schedule/coordinate anything for it, so it may just be drive by but I should definitely clarify tomorrow. I may just finish it this weekend anyway to get it done. Like the post earlier today about the Do-It Challenge...this is something that we have been putting off for a while, so I need to just do it!

[simpsongal]

Yeah, I'm sorry little miss, I have to totally disagree. We had to have two appraisals for our refi. Both appraisers were very thorough -- taking pictures, writing notes. I think you should finish the tile. Updates definitely affect the value. An appraiser might let you get away with an unfinished project but he/she might not. Why take the chance?

[wawa]

Basic number of bathrooms is a huge part of your home's value. If you have a bathroom that is currently unusable - then yes, that's definitely going to affect the appraised value.

But not all lenders do full appraisals. Some just do what littlemiss described - and as long as your comps would support the value of the house that you need in order to refinance - then that would be fine for you. I suppose you could ask around.